A very helpful conversation

Just lately I've been chatting with Judith Connors. I met her a few years ago when I went to the Fringe Element Tat Days in Canada. Yes, I know Judith is from Australia but I was lucky enough to spend a few days with her and our hostess with then mostest (Terry). What did we have in common? I'll leave you to work that one out!!!

A few days ago we started to discuss the leaves that I've been making and she pointed out that the word 'tischband' is German for 'table ribbon' which, obviously, refers to a whole load of leaves (and other things) put together. Now that this has been pointed out to me I'm going to call them 'Ruth Scharf leaves' in future!!! Thanks, Judith, for pointing that out to me.

Now I wore this pair of earrings on Friday (and Saturday AND Sunday) and people thought they were beads because they sparkled so much. That’s, of course, down to the very sparkly thread I used. Pity that sparkle is so hard to photograph.  

Earrings

Before the leaves took over I was certainly in bell 'mode'!!! Here are two pairs of earrings that I made. I don't want them as I've got enough earrings so will put them in Palmetto's silent auction - IF I can find them again!!!

They're somewhere in the house but the problem is - where?  I'm at that stage when my personal life is very, very busy and I'm trying to pack my stuff (handmade things) ready for the trip across the pond.  Once I've got my department number (technical stuff!) for the vending room then that can go into the suitcase and I'll be able to see if there's any room for clothes!

End of the story.

This is what the bells, leaves and everything ended up as!!!! 

The pictures are not good as again it’s very difficult to take photos of shiny, dangly things!!!

Now I’m going to reveal why I did this. Not only because I loved doing them but because I wanted to make something to put in the silent auction at Palmetto Tat Days. They are so, so sparkly that I’m hoping they’ll raise some money for their scholarship funds.

Another

Well once you’ve done one you have to do another!!! This one is in a variegated shiny thread.  

Still sticking with silver

I spent last week just sitting making bells and using lots of HWT (hand wound thread) without noting down which thread and how many strands!! 

Sometimes I used two together and other times three. This made for interesting effects and (sometimes) a little frustration too!!! 

Then I got bored and decided to make the Tischband leaves to go with the bells. I’ve done this before and ended up making this decoration.

The Tischband leaf is a design by Ruth Scharf and is in her book called Occhi. This is a book I don’t have but Ruth kindly allowed Umi and Tsuru permission to put it on her blog back in 2012. You can find the pattern here and further information here too.

Bauble bell number 2

This one is using the same basic silver thread but with another pretty variated shiny thread. 

Oh, did you want the pattern? Well it’s been here for a long time and has a sneaky way of finishing off the last round without having lots of ends to sew in. Just two - as you’d normally get.

Sorry about the pictures but the sheer shininess of them makes it so difficult to get good photos.

Off to a racing start

No, I’m not going out running or anything energetic like that!!

I’ve got the urge to make bauble bells again so that’s what I’m going to do!!!

This time I’m going to use my gorgeous gold threads - well that was the plan until I got into my stash and found that I don’t have that much left. So, over to silver. This is basically a silver thread with an even thinner gold filament which I’ve wound HWT.

Now I do have a plan in mind for these but you’ll have to wait and see!!!

Blue t-shirt

Now for another boring and hardly worn t-shirt of roughly the same age as the brown one. 

This time I decided to go for 'freedom' tatting!!! 

Well it took four shuttles (yellow, green, pale blue variegated and 'another' variegated thread) to make this.

All beginning ends were hidden in the starting flower at the top and the finishing ones in the last part. I only had one end to sew in!!!! 

All I did here is 'play' with daisy picot rings and split chains to return from the 'branched' flowers back to the main stem. 

This was terrific fun and was done solely for the blue t-shirt. The original t-shirt is at the bottom of the page.

A boring old t-shirt!

Now this t-shirt must be around 14 years old. I know because I rarely buy clothes from Lands End here in the UK as they don't have any outlets - well none in my neck of the woods.

This was bought at West Gate Mall in Cincinnati and it was when Nick and I used to go and stay with the 'kids'. Karen used to take us to the Mall as there was a department in Sears that sold Lands End clothes. 

I've got several t-shirts still that I wear from that era but this brown one was so boring it sort of got regularly shoved to the back of the drawer. I'm now trying to re-wear/re-purpose my older clothes so that they don't go into landfill and help destroy our planet. So this is what I've done to this t-shirt and I LOVE it now. 

It's really a lovely chocolate brown (don't mention chocolate to me!!!) and now looks a lot better for some TLC!!!!

New DPR technique page

Now I showed you this a week or so ago. It's just a snippet from a new design I've been playing with.

Well of course one thing leads to another in my little corner of Tat Land and I realised it was about time I settled down and re-vamped my Daisy Picot page which you can find here.

I can't tell you how lovely it is to start playing with colours again!!!

I hope this page will help as the new design will be using the DPR!!!

Juliana is finished

Or should I call it by it's new name - 'that blue thing'!!!!

This took hours and hours and HOURS to sew onto the backing and it does look a lot better in real life than it does here!!

The update on the pattern release is that I will add it to my site sometime in the future with the copyright assigned to 'unknown'.  I've agonised over this for ages and ages and I decided that if I didn't publish it then it would in all likelihood never be made again.

Tim has kindly offered to test tat it and has found a few glitches already. He's amazing at the job as he takes it so carefully and watches out for all my boo boo's.

Here's a link to where I started off on this adventure but there are many other posts on it's progress too as those amongst you who get bored easily will be able to affirm!!!!

Now I'm going to play, play, play and I will NOT be using blue thread for a while, I don't think!!!

Sheeeesh

Just to let you know I'm BORED TO DEATH with 'that blue thing'!!!!

I'm slowly sewing it onto a backing fabric as the design wouldn't stand up to travelling with me to America so needed taming. Also the thread I used is Manuela which is a soft thread but was one of which I had (almost) plenty to make it.  It's taking hours and hours of my time but ..............

Actually the backing is a very good idea as it's showing up the delicacy of the design well. 

I can't WAIT to show you sometime (fingers crossed) next week.

Fandango coaster progress

Bet you thought I'd given up, didn't you? Well I'm the sort who rarely gives up on something so I've been slowly getting on with my challenge to myself!!!

When I’m ‘out and about’ this still comes with me. Progress is being made and I’ve still got lots of thread left on the ball. This is my last post on this subject, I think!

Well although I've got lots of thread left at this stage I thought I'd do another re-measure and calculate whether I can do another row. Of course with a mathematically challenged brain like mine this just AIN'T EASY!!! 

BUT I'm pretty sure I've got enough for another row of 5 so I'm going to do five more 'middles' then hope I've got enough for five more 'outers'!!!

A long term relationship

A week or so ago (yes, I forgot to blog it last week) I received my newsletter from Handy Hands and inside was this key ring.

This took me back to when Barb started her company and when I first started dealing with her. It must have been an advert in a UK based tatting newsletter that put me onto her shop. I can't remember the exact details but it was in the very early days of the internet when I'd just discovered that there were real, live tatters 'out there' and that I wasn't on my own! In fact (here I digress as usual) one of the first ones I got into conversation with was Mark Myers (Tatman) who helped me no end when I was struggling to set up my website. 

Back to the subject of this post! I remember buying off Barb of Handy Hands and she'd not got her shop set up online back then. I used to 'risk it' by sending my credit card details in two or three emails for her to 'patch together'. It worked and I'll always be grateful to her for that and for all she's done for tatting. 

Without her taking big risks we wouldn't have Lizbeth threads, shuttles and many, many things we now take for granted. Thank YOU, Barb.

Anybody ready, willing and able?

I'd like to get this new pattern onto my website soonish and wondered if anybody would like to test it?

It's a bookmark/bracelet/edging and very versatile and there are two versions too.

Both versions in include a daisy picot ring and an SCMR but the second one also involves a wrapped chain. That one (in my opinion) is the easiest to work, believe it or not!!!

I'm also working on a re-vamp of the daisy picot technique page as well and hope to have that ready pretty soon.

Here's a sneaky look at a small part of the 3 shuttle version.

Finished needle case

Well here it is. My new needle case with the lovely crinoline lady on too.

I’d love to know who gave me the original needle case as it’s been with me for years. I’m pretty sure it was given to me at a Palmetto Tat Days many years ago. In fact since writing yesterday Martha has told me who it was. Kathy H. I'd like to say 'thank you' to her once again and I hope to meet up with her again this September.

The needle case is back in use again now and it will be taking it's weekly trip to Alcester later today to Crafternoon. 

I'm taking Juliana with me as it's taking ages and ages to sew her onto a backing fabric. Something mindless I can do when I'm chatting to my friends.

Needle cases

Some years ago I was given these two lovely needle cases. I love them both but sadly the one with the crinoline lady on is falling slightly apart on the edges and inside too.  I put that down to the fact that I’ve used it so much.

I’m going to make another needle case so that I can put the crinoline lady on it. Isn’t it wonderful the way that tatting outlasts everything you put it on. That’s why I would never dream of tatting directly onto a handkerchief or anything as the fabric will wear out before the tatting!!!

The green one is fine and I’ll keep as it is as there’s nothing wrong with it at all. I have one with my sewing kit and the other is in my ‘out and about’ kit!!!

A group project

Well it’s Tuesday morning. I’m back blogging a bit more often now that the ‘blue thing’ is over and done with. 

Tuesday morning is time for Neighbours and Needles which is where a group of us get together to make things, drink tea and coffee and have a good chat!!  

Our main aim is to make things for charities - usually local ones. We’ve made bunting, bags for school books, twiddle muffs, blankets for oldies, glove puppets, harp covers (yes, really) etc.

Each summer we hold a mid summer party in a local garden and we make a quilt to raffle to raise funds. This year I think the proceeds will probably go to one of the local hospices. Below is the almost completed quilt. I brought it home last Tuesday to sew the side fabric on and will take it with me this morning to get the top and bottom done. This is truly a group effort. We all had a rectangle (if we wanted to take one) and ‘did our own thing’. Bearing in mind that a few of us aren’t really sewers this is an amazing piece of work.

Can you spot my contributions?  I was also asked to make bits of tatting for other people too!!

That blue thing

Over the past two months or so this has become known as ‘that blue thing’!!! That’s Nick’s name for it!!!  He’s seen me with it hour after hour and has often remarked on ‘that blue thing’. 

Well finally ‘that blue thing’ is finished. I’m sure you realised in the last post that I’d changed the shade of blue on the last two rounds.  The reason?  Well I could tell you that it was a design choice but I’ll be honest and admit that I ran out of the pale blue thread - or realised, rather, that I wouldn’t have enough for round nine. 

After all the struggles with round 9 it was going to be really easy to do round 10 as it’s simply rings and chains and they’re all the same. 

AHA, wrong again, Jane. Four starts were made on this round as it said to follow the picture to join to round 9. That was all very well but they just didn’t look right so I had to work out my own joins. This took some explaining too but I think it’ll be easy to follow on the pattern. My good friend in SC is test tatting it for me so that eventually I will be able to share.

Here’s Juliana in all her glory!!! Well it’s how she looks at the moment as she waits for the iron and lots of time to sort her out as I’m going to stitch her onto a fabric background. The little coilless pins are what I used to mark the scallops. All will be explained in the final pattern.

Phewwwww

Round 9 of Juliana was a bit of a nightmare. 

My apologies to the nun who designed this but I have modified round 9 a bit to avoid too many ends to sew in. If I could contact her I'd tell her how allergic the 21st century tatter is to sewing in ends!!! 

I think by using a lot of experience and a good deal of cussing I've managed to 'lighten' the density in the scallops of this round. I've also introduced a lock chain in order to make it less dense and also to get straighter 'stalks' to the flowers that form the scallops.  They look a bit dire at the moment as they really need a date with the iron!!  

          

Anyway, here's a picture. You'll see on this picture that I've made a tentative start to round 10 which looks really, really easy. Just hope I'm right!!!  More next week!!!!  

I’m really looking forward to doing something different now!

Doggy bags

I managed to get hold of a limited quantity of this dog print fabric. I realised at the time that it would be no good for my usual small craft bags so set about making some shopping/tote or craft bags.  I had enough to make seven although I’ve only shown two people I’ve only got five left!!! If you want one then do make a comment.  I will be bringing any I’ve got left to Palmetto Tat Days.

They are all fully lined and washable too so no excuse for having a dirty dog!!!! 

I wondered where the expression 'doggy bag' came from and spent a while browsing the internet. I thought it was an English expression but it's one we've adopted from the America. Quite a while ago too. Here's one of the links I found.

History of Juliana and round 8

Two weeks ago I had a GOOD IDEA!!! I went onto Facebook (I know I've mentioned this before) and put out a call for help in all the tatting groups with finding the designer of Juliana. 

A lady called Angela contacted me and she had been in touch with Ben in Holland too. Ben said that the publishers are a company called Eska who are based in Utrecht. I had already realised that they were the publishers as it's in the book but it did trigger BC3 into trying to contact them. So far no reply!

Ben also says that the designs were done by the nuns in the St Rosa monastery in Amsterdam. I have tried to google this monastery/convent/nunnery but with no luck. 

Here is a bit more from Angela's message:-

"I'm keen to know more about this St Rosa monastery - when I was in Amsterdam last I visited a former monastery that was run by nuns after the war as a 'finishing' schools for young ladies. My auntie's went there... the girls learnt how to make beds, cook & clean so that they were prepared to take up home duties when they married."

So my plans at the moment are to put the pattern up on my pattern site and give the history of it's provenance as far as I know it. Copyright will be assigned to 'unknown' although I think I've earned a mention too!!!! It's going to be a long pattern as I've done a lot of work on the notation and there are also drawings for each row too.  

I am now asking for dedicated tatters to test tat it up to round 9 which will be ready shortly.  I will be putting the same request out in the Facebook tatting groups too.  The only skills which will be required are rings, and chains.  For round 9 (which I've started work on) the test tatters will need to know split rings and lock chains.  They are not in the original pattern but will be used in round 9 to avoid too many ends to be sewn in.

Meanwhile here's round 8!!!!

Not MORE fabric?

I mentioned in this post that I'd been back to Birmingham even before I made up the fabric I'd bought on the previous trip!!!

So straight after making up the first lot of fabric I started on this new short sleeved top (pictures below). 

As I mentioned in the post about the first top - the pattern was challenging but obviously easier the second time around. I'm really pleased with this top too and it fits in all the right places as well!!!

I really love the print but the finished top doesn't look very good on the picture as it must've been a dull day!!!

Juliana round 7

Another week of ‘not so many’ posts as I’m concentrating on Juliana and finishing her as soon as I can.  Can’t wait to do something else but if I drift off to play with other things this won’t get finished. 

After round 6 this wasn't so much work. It's been pretty easy to notate and draw up too. 

I'm hoping to get round 8 done over the next few days as that looks quite straightforward so keep your eyes open for that later this week. 

Then I MAY hit the skids with round 9. I've already started studying it and I'm thinking I MAY have to 'go off piste' with that one in order to save a load of sewing in of ends. I'll (obviously) keep you posted on progress.

Juliana round 6

Well this wasn't as bad as it looks!!! Still took BC3 a lot of concentration to sort it out. Good training for round nine which looks HORRENDOUS!!!

I'm still trying to track down the designer of this gorgeous doily but having little luck so far. I even had to resort to Facebook and the tatting groups I'm in to ask for help - I’ll update you on that as soon as I can settle down to sort out all the information I’ve got and am sure there maybe more coming in.  

As a lot of you may know - I don’t ‘do’ Facebook and only pop in there when there’s something I really can either help with or am interested in. I went through a patch a few years ago of being there a lot before I realised how much time I was wasting - time is valuable when you get older and want to tat another idea!!!

Tissue holders

More 'makings' to go to Palmetto Tat Days in September. 

I absolutely love these little tissue holders. I made one for myself some time ago and then sold oodles at the craft thingy we did in the library last October. 

If you're like me you always carry tissues around in your handbag. They come in plastic and you'd think that that would be fine but I've found that the plastic sort of goes yucky after a while rumbling around in my bag so I tried putting the tissues in one of these holders. They protect them very well. 

Normally at home I sell them with a packet of tissues in them but I'm afraid that I won't be able to do that when I bring them 'over the pond'. The reason? Well I spent time last weekend sorting out what I'm bringing to sell and putting it in the suitcase. Now the problem is - will I be able to bring any clothes? It's getting rather full so I may have to post some of the items ahead of my trip but that'll cost a lot. Somehow I'll manage, I'm sure and if I sell loads of 'stuff' then I'll be able to buy lots of 'stuff' to bring home!!!! In theory I'm really trying to make enough to cover part of my flights and insurance but temptation may come my way!!!!

Oh, the price of these is $3.35 if you want one or any put by.  Ideal Christmas stocking fillers!

Summer top

It must be two months or so since I went to Birmingham and bought this fabric and it's been waiting for me to find the time to deal with it since! I've been back  to the big city since but more about that another day!!!

The pattern was a bargain - I found it in a charity shop in Alcester before Christmas. Brand new. It's quite a challenging one in a way as it has a back, front, side backs and side fronts. To add to that the sleeves have three parts too. Proved an interesting challenge.

One thing I bought a few months back from Amazon were some frixion pens like these. These were SOOOO useful as I could actually write on each piece what it was and then as soon as I'd finished I just 'showed' it the iron and the markings disappeared. Very useful accessory!!!!  There are some warnings about using these but they worked like a charm for me.